The new variety of apple tree ‘CP 101’ was created in the course of a planned breeding program carried out at in Keedysville, Md. ‘CP 101’ originated as an open-pollinated seed of ‘Cripps Pink’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,880, seed parent) and an unknown ‘CGM’ seedling (not patented, pollen parent). ‘CGM’ seedlings were the result of an open-pollinated cross between seedlings of ‘McIntosh Wijcik’ (not patented, seed parent) and ‘Gala’ (not patented, pollen parent) generated by the inventors in Keedysville, Md. The plantings were isolated from other plantings, so while they were the result of open-pollination, the authors are fairly certain of the pollen parentage. ‘Cripps Pink’, ‘CGM’, ‘McIntosh Wijcik’ and ‘Gala’ were all cultivated between the years 1991 and 1999. CGM seedlings were on their own roots, while the varieties ‘Cripps Pink’, ‘McIntosh Wijcik’ and ‘Gala’ were grafted on M.7. ‘CP 101’ was selected as a single plant from among a population of seedlings derived from these parents for its precocity, productivity, tree architecture, attractive fruit color and flavor, and adaptation to the hot, wet summer growing conditions present in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is distinguished from its seed parent by its early harvest season which in Keedysville, Md. is the first week of October. ‘Cripps Pink’ is harvested at that same location three to four weeks later. In the tenth leaf, the height and spread of the original self-rooted ‘CP 101’ seedling was 3.02 m and 3.27 m, respectively. Wild-type ‘Cripps Pink’ seedlings at the same age measured 4.14 m and 4.57 m, respectively. From this we estimate a minimum of 30% scion dwarfing. ‘CP 101’ is a departure from other dwarfing, tree architecture releases in that it is neither a single-leader, columnar type (ie. ‘Maypole’, ‘Tuscan’, ‘Hercules’, ‘Moonlight’, ‘Trajan’, or ‘Telamon’, to name a few) nor is it a spur type tree characterized by the very short internode length (ie. ‘Spur-type Red Delicious’, ‘Early Spur Rome’, ‘Cumberland Spur’, ‘Oregon Spur’, etc). ‘CP 101’ retains an attractive “Christmas tree” shape, while being 30% smaller than wild-type counterparts. Internodes are somewhat reduced, but not generally comparable to traditional spur types.
Table 1 represents fruit quality indices of ‘CP 101’, ‘Granny Smtih’, and ‘Pink Lady’ varieties. In Table 1, pressure is a measure of fruit firmness, SSC is a measure of soluble solid content of fruit in units ° Brix, and SPI is a measure of the starch pattern index on the Cornell 8-point starch chart. The varieties were sampled on Nov. 5, 2014 and data is presented as an average of twenty fruit.
TABLE 1Firmness Fruit (kilo)SSCStarchWeigh (g)‘CP 1017.8616.27153.4‘Granny Smith’7.0312.056.5178.25‘Pink Lady’8.616.75158.8
Important features of ‘CP 101’ with respect to prior art cultivars include low-pruning tree architecture, precocity and high producticity with low biennial bearing, and improved fruit quality and pleasing aesthetic appearance. ‘CP 101’ is adapted to Mid-Atlantic, U.S.A. growing conditions.
Asexual propagation by budding was first carried out in Cecilton, Md. The variety is compatible with ‘Budagovski 9’ and ‘Merton-Malling 111’ rootstocks, which is currently the industry standard. Successful grafting of budwood onto Merton-Malling 111 rootstocks was accomplished. This is the first in a series of second-generation trees we have developed with size control and tree-architecture benefits conferred by the scion. These make it applicable to intensive apple management systems.